Far From Home
by JenJenGundamFan
Summary: After Mariemaia's Rebellion Zechs and Noin resigned from the Preventers and disappeared without a trace, presumably to Mars. What happened while they traveled in those ninety-one days to the red planet?


Disclaimer: I do not own GW at all! This is just for fun!

Far From Home

By JenJenGundamFan

January 1st AC 197

It was unmistakably an exhausting two weeks for the raven-haired ex-Preventer. The rebirth of the original Operation Meteor played out the folly of war, again. Defending the fragile portal of peace had proven taxing. With no casualties, except for one, the organization failed in its attempts to overthrow the ESUN. And it was all because of the strong will of the people caring for the sanctity of peace.

Now she was fleeing with _him_, a dead man, to Mars, so far from home, to voluntarily become one of the first units to conduct the fruits of Relena's labored efforts in her Terraformation proposal.

She was curious to know if their unexpected arrival on Mars would be welcomed and asked, "Are you sure? The terraforming project hasn't even officially started yet."

Noin glanced to her left, using her peripheral vision to judge his reaction, his eyes fixated on the void of outer space; however, as he spoke, his eyes filled with optimism. "It's something Relena is working on, and it won't be easy. That's why a dead person would be perfect for the job. Noin, are you sure you…"

She closed her eyes and slightly bowed her head. This question wasn't the first to be brought up that day. He had inquired right before their departure from the Earth several hours earlier. Cutting him off, she spoke softly, "Zechs, please don't make me repeat myself. _Again_."

It wasn't a hard decision to leave everything behind. Although, the former OZ soldier loved working for the Preventers. Une had taken the position as head commander and managed the small agency with perfection. During her brief career as an agent for the ESUN, Noin and Sally became a powerhouse twosome, earning their respective code names as 'water and fire.' As advanced agents, their thinking always left them two steps ahead of every adversary they encountered. She was going to miss those marvelous moments with her partner.

But despite feeling like a seasoned Preventer, she renounced her badge and duties to the ESUN. The raven-haired woman knew she had to follow her own heart. She had risked everything in the past, following him. She was sure _as hell_ not about to let him fly to the red planet without her, especially now that she knew he was alive.

Once they successfully traveled through the last of the colony clusters, it was safe to say Mars lay ninety-one days ahead of them. Noin switched on the onboard autopilot system and stabilizer. They wouldn't be encountering anyone out in the vastness of the outer rim now.

Zechs unbuckled, stood from his seat and walked out of the room without a word. He hadn't spoken much since he resurfaced from the grave; then again, he never was a man known for his words but instead his actions.

After the explosion in the Eve wars, there was no sense of loss or disconnect as she encountered with deceased former comrades. Noin could still feel his energy and sensed the disciplined soldier had escaped safely. However, when he showed up to assist the Preventers in the new outbreak rebellion, the nagging question on her mind was, would he have ever returned even if there wasn't a threat to the ESUN? She knew, at one point, he had some affection for her, but now, well, she couldn't tell if it was her mind playing tricks or if he genuinely cared for her.

It didn't matter at this moment, and maybe the topic would come to light sooner rather than later on their journey to a new life. The door to the cockpit slid open with a 'swoosh,' and it broke Noin from her concentration.

"Care for a game?" He gestured in his smooth, deep silky voice, carrying the large wooden box over to her, revealing the activity he picked for them. She smiled at the thought of the last game they played in their old academy days.

"Sure. But only if you don't cheat," the former lieutenant teased.

A smirk crept to his lips, and he silently snorted and bantered, "You're one to talk."

"Maybe I'll just let you win again. You know, for old times sake," she snickered, helping set up the chessboard.

"Humph." He said nothing more in return and acknowledged her color by pushing the pile of white wooden pieces towards her side.

Noin beamed, and eyed his handsome physique through her long lashes as she multitasked, placing the pawns in their respective starting positions. Once finished, their eyes met, and she smiled at him. Zechs only nodded his head and stated, "your move, Noin."

She looked down at the black and white board and assessed her first plan of action. She decided to move her first pawn guarding her Queen. Zechs quirked his head, considering his first maneuver as he intensely stared at the pieces. Then, he positioned his pawn two spaces forward from defending his knight, and thus the game began.

As the afternoon progressed to the early evening, the hunger pains the female pilot was currently experiencing was the only measure of time observable in the deepness of space.

Noin positioned her knight, checkmating his king. Glowing, she spoke softly, "Checkmate again, Zechs," winning for the third time in a row.

"Very good, Noin, you've been practicing. For someone who despises war as you do, you know the game quite well."

Her cheeks heated from his comment. She teased back, "I've observed from the best."

"Hmm..."

Noin lifted her wrist and noticed the time. "It's six-o'clock on Earth. Should we make dinner?"

"That sounds fine."

The Pixie-haired woman stood and stretched her body, moaning with the cracks her back made. "First, I'm going to change out of this spacesuit. Then, I'll be ready to cook."

"I should do the same."

They half floated-walked to their quarters in silence, and when they arrived at the two doors on opposite sides of each other, she peered behind her, looking at the tall blonde-man's back. The door opened with a 'swoosh,' and the Lightning Count entered his chambers. Doing the same, she strolled to her neatly made twin size bed. Her old military duffel lay on top, carrying the only personal items she had left.

There wasn't much — clothes, shoes, a few childhood photos. That's all she could muster bringing with her on such short notice.

She knew the majority of her earthly belongings, such as furniture and appliances, were not required for space, or the Mars colony. If they were able to live on Mars one day, well, that was in the far off future.

Rifling through her bag, she found her green tank top and her most comfortable pair of stretchy jeans. Stripping off the Preventer's spacesuit, she placed the uniform in its proper home, and threw on her new outfit.

Before exiting her quarters, Noin stopped and looked in the mirror, examining herself for a moment. She frowned at the sight of her tousled hair. Combing her fingers through her bangs and fluffing up her short hair, for some volume in the back, she nodded her head in satisfaction, ready to join her comrade for dinner.

A few moments later, she met her comrade in the small mess hall, who already started preparing the meal. She stopped short in the doorway, stunned by his attire. Noin had not seen the former colonel out of uniform, since the academy. A t-shirt and jeans were prevalent to every trainee off duty; however, the simple plain white t-shirt he wore now show-cased his solid biceps, clear evidence that he matured over the years.

The long platinum blonde-haired man turned his head slightly, acknowledging her presence, "Noin, can you hand me the whisk?"

She looked around and found the utensil on the island block behind him, and she did as instructed. "What are you making?" The short-haired woman curiously asked as Zechs accepted the metal cooking tool from her grasp and muttered a thank you.

He lightly snorted in amusement and started whisking the yellow liquid in the small bowl, not making eye contact. "Do you remember the last night before I concealed my identity?"

The former OZ specialist sucked in a slow breath. Remember? How could she forget? He had returned from a mission with Treize, where she heard he earned a new name, the Lightning Count, as he fought with the quickness and deadly force of lightning. However, Zechs had not come back satisfied. She examined the hurt and disappointment in his eyes. Fortunately, he accepted her request to eat with her at a nearby Italian restaurant, where they shared spaghetti chicken parmesan in silence.

She had been in love with him for a while, nearly four years in fact, and vowed to be there for him, no matter if he desired to speak or not. So, dinner wasn't as awkward as one might imagine, and when they arrived back to school to the empty common room, her gaze fixated on the broken boy, standing beside the fireplace, enchanted by the flames.

Then, by some miracle, when he dropped his head to his chest, and his eyes clenched shut, Zechs' emotions escaped through his lips.

Noin removed herself from the couch to comfort the lost soldier after he finished speaking. His Nile blue eyes pleaded with an earnest desire. The young cadet's lips crushed against hers, and she succumbed in his arms as he lifted her like a feather, walking them upstairs to his quarters.

When she awoke mid-afternoon in his bed, he had already disappeared. Their night together had been pure teenage innocence. Learning each other's anatomy like there was going to be a test at the end of the week. By the dawn of the morning, their bodies had become one, a multitude of times.

When she finally found him that evening in the office of Treize, her heart sank. Zechs had masked his identity, and she could no longer see those Nile blue eyes. She thought by his honesty last night, and their blatant lovemaking, things would be different, he would be different; however, she was dead wrong.

Their leader spoke in his soft, comforting tone, "Ah, Cadet Noin, please join us. Don't be alarmed by the helmet; this is only our comrade, the Lightning Count, Zechs Marquise."

The raven-haired woman shook the past away and ignored his earlier question and confronted him, "do you remember?"

The Tallgeese pilot stopped his stirring, put the bowl down, and turned to the former lieutenant. Her gaze was so full of hope, as he caressed her smooth face with his rough hand. "How could I forget you?" His intense eyes were searching hers with the most notable emotion she had ever witnessed from him.

"I, I just thought..."

He cut her off, "I'm sorry for what I did to you, Noin. I was not happy with myself. My split identities nearly collided that night, and when I woke up the next morning, I felt something I had not known in a long time. I told you plenty of times to stop wasting your energy on me; it would be pointless. Did you listen? No. Then you caught me at a very vulnerable moment, and I caved to my raw feelings than to my main objective of revenge. I guess if it weren't for that night, you wouldn't have known anything about me, my past, my blood relation, and my sister would be dead, because of my hard-headed nature. So you see, that night...with you, I've always cherished."

"Zechs, I..."

"Thought that I didn't care? Ignored your love and concern for me as if I didn't return such affections?" He hesitated and leaned down to her level, their lips almost brushing against each other. When he spoke again, his hot breath tickling her skin. "Don't you see? I wasn't good enough for you. I was so fixated on getting my revenge. Then, later… I just wanted the fighting to end. For good. I'd do anything for the sake of peace, but now that is all over, and I've lived through it. I can now experience what appears to be a normal life, and there isn't anyone I'd rather choose to do it with than you, Lucrezia Noin." Before she could speak, his mouth invaded hers, and his hand slid to the back of her head, running his fingers through her short silky hair. He pulled her closer to him, deepening their long-awaited kiss.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, careful of his long mane, and advanced her body into his.

It had been five years, seven months, and twenty-two days since she lost her virginity to the love of her life, and as such, kept herself chaste until this moment. She ran a hand down to his jeans, toying with his belt, unbuckling the strap. Zechs momentarily broke from their lip lock. "Noin, dinner?" He disputed, but she shook her head, not caring about her empty stomach.

The Tallgeese pilot growled in delight and seized her lips once again, this time, repeating their past, lifting his only lover bridal style, and float walked to his chambers.

The ninety-one days flew by quicker than they liked. Their new found love would exhaust anyone looking in, and they had christened every part of the spaceship.

During their travels, they both agreed to change their names slightly in hopes of concealing their identities.

Noin started calling Zechs, Milly, as a pet name, so he stuck with the shortened name Mill, and Zechs began calling Noin, Lu. Together they would be Mill and Lu, two fresh recruits to the terraforming project, as an unmarried couple.

To go even further, the ex-commander in chief cut his hair and in turn, she decided to grow hers out.

Once they reached the surface of Mars, they both dressed in their spacesuits. Even though Mars had begun the careful process of terraformation in the hands of scientists decades ago, the red rock still had another five to ten years till sustainable, breathable air.

Zechs opened the hanger and moved the precious cargo to a remote part of Mars, in a crater that was perfect for their needs.

Noin looked up at both the mobile suits and felt guilty for not destroying them back on Earth. "Milly, do you think Relena will be mad at us?"

Looking up towards his old pal, he spoke softly, "No. As far as these are concerned, they were both destroyed in the report I sent to commander Une."

"Well, you were also supposed to send in video documentation," she countered.

Zechs shrugged a shoulder. "Guess it just slipped my mind. After all, I disappeared faster than I came back."

"Oh, Milly, if something were to happen..."

He cut her off, "Nothing is going to happen. We're two hundred and twenty-five million kilometers away. Communication at this point is scarce since hardly anyone is here yet."

They walked back into the ship, and closed the hanger, air locking the cabin back to pressure to which both lifted off their helmets, inhaling the ships recycled air.

He turned toward her and spoke with determination, "I'm not going to rid ourselves of these suits when the past could come back and haunt us. For now, we'll let Relena give us a new hope. In the meantime, I will not sit idly by with my hands free of power in case someone does try and overthrow the government again."

Noin nodded her head, knowing all too well of his stance, and agreed with him.

"But I know one thing that is for certain," Zechs reached down and caressed her cheek.

Noin smiled at him, "And what's that?"

"This is our new life now. Laboring our efforts to establish a new civilization." He hesitated and brushed his thumb, tenderly over her cheekbone. "Be my wife. Say you'll have me as your husband, Lu?"

"Oh, Milly…." she whispered, a tear rolling down her cheek, but he brushed the liquid away faster than it came. "Of course!" She exclaimed, wrapping her arms around his neck, locking him in a tight embrace.

He claimed her lips with his, and passionately kissed his lover for the first time on Mars. Like a baptism, their heated desire for each other washed away the sin of their past, granting them access to the tiny colony they were to join. Even if their future seemed too cookie-cutter, the couple didn't care; they savored the optimistic moment with ignorance and traveled towards their brand-new home as a declared husband and wife.


End file.
